AG: More work needed on mortgage settlements

POSTED: 09:09 PM EDT Sep 20, 2013

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -

Attorney General Greg Zoeller encouraged Indiana homeowners Friday to see if they qualify for the National Mortgage Settlement struck last year.

Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi and ResCap Parties have paid out $174 million to roughly 4,500 borrowers in Indiana. The relief has paid for home loan modifications, short sales, mortgage refinancing and other aid.

Zoeller said about 18,000 other residents have received direct payments if they lost their home between Jan. 1, 2008, and December 31, 2011.

Last year's national settlement has helped many residents, but more work is needed, Zoeller said. Foreclosures continue to be a problem and Indiana's loan delinquency rate is still above the national average.

"While Indiana's foreclosure rate is down there is still a long road ahead in making sure distressed borrowers are treated fairly and our state recovers from the nation's economic downturn," Zoeller said in a statement.

The attorney general's comments came as he convened a meeting with Joseph A. Smith Jr., the monitor of that nationwide settlement. Smith worked as North Carolina's Commissioner of Banks before assuming oversight of the settlement last year. Since then, he has been touring states, examining their progress.

"It's important for me to hear first-hand about the experience borrowers and the professionals who work on their behalf are having with the National Mortgage Settlement," Smith said in a statement.